The Role of Public Prosecutor: A Study of the Injured Person Solely Bringing a Criminal Case by Himself/Herself
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Abstract
This article is the conclusion of the content of a thesis on the Role of the Public Prosecutor: A Study of the Injured Person Firstly Sues in Criminal Case by Themselves aiming to study on concepts and theories related to criminal procedure and the roles of public prosecutor and injured person in criminal process.
The study of this article was conducted in the form of qualitative research through documentary research by studying from legal provisions, legal textbooks, and academic articles, in order to study on the guidelines on the roles of public prosecutor and injured person in criminal procedure and in the case of the injured person firstly sues in criminal case by themselves by comparing with laws of other countries, for example, France,Germany, UK, and U.S.A., etc.
The results revealed that Section 28 of Thai’s Criminal Procedure Code stated that persons entitled to institute criminal prosecution in court are the public prosecutor and the injured person and this section has never been amended since the Criminal Procedure Code was enforced in 1935. Whereas, process of the injured person to charge is unlimited therefore criminal procedure of the public prosecutor and the injured person is separated and independently from each other. After prosecution, the injured person is entitled to institute criminal prosecution solely whether such criminal case is compoundable offence or non-compoundable offence. Therefore, criminal prosecution of the injured person may damage criminal procedure, namely, the offender may use it as the opportunity to make an agreement with the injured person on secret settlement, especially any criminal case that is public offence whereas the injured person firstly sues in criminal case by himself/herself and the court sentences to dismiss such case. If the public prosecutor fails to acknowledge on criminal prosecution of the injured person or if the case is in the process of police’s investigation, the public prosecutor shall not be able to institute such criminal case again because it will become duplicity.
When comparing with foreign laws, it was found that the public prosecutor played the role in criminal prosecution for countries applying the principles of public criminal prosecution, whereas, the injured person had the limited power to charge. In addition,there was the connection among organizations in criminal justice process. Since the injured person has no opportunity to damage any criminal cases with non-compoundable offence, Thai public prosecutors should have the same role as that of other countries to maintain social benefits and protect people’s freedom and rights. Laws should be amended to prevent the injured person to damage any criminal case with noncompoundable offence. Providing public prosecutors to perceive criminal charge of the injured person would prevent damage against criminal case with non-compoundable offence and be consistent with public prosecution.
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References
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